(The following appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on February 22, 2011.)
The seven major freight railroads reduced employment on their U.S. lines by 1,096 workers from mid-December to mid-January, the second straight cut after trimming 642 jobs the month before.
In reports filed by the railroads and compiled by the Surface Transportation Board, the seven Class I carriers said they had 153,304 workers as of the first payroll in January. That was the lowest since August and marked the first back-to-back monthly declines since the carriers started adding workers following the recession.
The full story appears on the Journal of Commerce website.